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Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Virginia Tech shootings

I was really shocked when I heard about the Virginia Tech shootings on the radio while driving back from the clinic on Tuesday evening.

Going through various blogs which posted about the tragedy, everybody seems to be asking "what drove the gunmen, Cho Seung-hui do it?"

Of course some are also asking why these shootings at educational institutions are so common in the US? It does not happen in any other country.

A lot of people are pointing their fingers at the lax gun control laws in the US and it's various states.

I am sure a lot of Americans who believe in the right to bear arms will disagree and say that " It's not guns that kill; its people who kill". This blog says that, "Once guns are banned, crime will explode". I totally disagree. You just need to look at the violent crime rate in countries that control guns and ones that don't. Just guess, which ones have lower rates.

The fact is that the US has the most heavily armed people and also the highest gun related deaths in the World. According to a Reuter's report, "there's an estimated 250 million privately owned guns in the United States, which has a population of about 300 million". In fact someone was telling me that a lot of Americans have automatic assault rifles in their homes. If that's for self-defense, that's really crazy.

To me, guns should be restricted to the armed forces, security forces and for certain purposes, namely hunting or for sports.

It is true that Malaysia has its negative side. Snatch thefts, parang slashing and break-ins experiences are some of which I can do without.

Of course, I am well aware that crime happens in all parts of the world, but I also know the difference between what is occasional, frequent and common. What does all this do to us? It hardens, embitters and de-sensitises the human spirit.

How does it affect the economy? As corruption reigns, the fabric of society breaks down and public safety declines, our country risk goes up. It makes it more difficult to attract foreign direct investments.

In a globalised world, where we have to attract the best and brightest to our upcoming Multimedia Super Corridor, educational institutes, biotech park and other industries, we have to address the concept of a truly civil society.

Why? Simply because the best and brightest in any field will be in great demand anywhere in the world and are thus very mobile. They have many options.

They seek environments that satisfy the very basic human desire of societies of laws and equitableness way, of safe public places, of freedom, of a civil society beyond monetary rewards.

As it is, there is a brain drain from this country, which has been going on for decades. If we cannot even retain our own citizens who have to uproot from the comfort of familiar surroundings, what hope do we have of attracting top foreign talents?

We need to feel passionately about the wrongs we see around us and be able to express and show that passion. Only then can we become less embittered and show empathy for victims of injustice. Only then can we become truly more caring.

I have decided to delete several comments in this post because:1. They were made by the same person under different obviously false alias& 2. They had nothing to do with the post.If you have something against Malaysia and the Malaysian Govt. please rant on your own blog and don't spam my comments please. Thanks.